About Mary Ann Wilson
Mary Ann Wilson lives in Los Angeles, and contributes articles to OceanBights, the magazine of the Catalina Marine Society and California Diver. She has also been a volunteer for Heal the Bay’s MPA Watch program since its inception in 2011. She has a M.A. in Journalism and Public Affairs from American University and a Certificate in Global Sustainability from UCLA Extension.
Climate Change and the Blob
The Blob, that large mass of warm water off the coast of North America, was a massive marine heat wave that wreaked havoc on marine life for three years not ...
The Impacts of Global Warming on Upwelling in the California Current
From southern British Columbia to the Baja California Peninsula, winds blow southward along the coast. Combined with the rotation of the earth, these winds cause the surface layer of the ...
Weeding a Seaweed: Managing Sargassum horneri
Sargassum horneri (S. horneri) is a large alga native to the shallow reefs of eastern Asia. As a key species in the Northwest Pacific ecosystem, S. horneri is a primary ...
Rising Sea Levels and the Public Trust Doctrine
The California Ocean Protection Council and the California Natural Resources Agency have updated statewide guidance on sea-level rise to reflect new advances in ice loss science. Their new report, “Rising ...
The Plight of the California Sea Lion, Part 2
This is the second part of a two-part series about the recent unusual mortality events of California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) pups. The first article investigated the reasons why thousands ...
Release of Rehabilitated California Sea Lions
On July 16, 2016, the Marine Mammal Center released four rehabilitated California sea lions in Morro Bay. After witnessing dead and dying sea lion pups in 2013 and 2015 on ...
Mexico Bans Night Fishing and Gill Nets to Protect the Critically Endangered Vaquita Porpoise
Vaquita, which in Spanish means “little cow,” is a rare porpoise and the smallest and most endangered species of the cetacean order. Also called the Gulf of California Harbor porpoise ...
The Plight of the California Sea Lion
On a Sunday morning in March 2013, I spotted three dead California sea lion pups and two dying pups on the beach just south-east of the cliffs in Point Dume, ...
California’s Fish Population in Dramatic Decline
Two independent long-term time series show four decades of declines within fish populations in the California Current, with no sign of reversal. The data set from the California Cooperative Oceanic ...
Return of the Giant Sea Bass, King of the Kelp Forest
Back in April 2011, my friend and I were diving off Casino Point on Santa Catalina Island in chilly waters when we looked up and saw four large black fish ...
Report on Sea-Level Rise in California
A report entitled Sea-Level Rise: a Slow-Moving Emergency, was released in August 2014 by the Assembly Select Committee on Sea Level Rise and the California Economy. The Select Committee, established ...
UCLA scientists to predict climate change in key coastal regions around the world
In a new five-year project, UCLA researchers will make the first detailed models predicting how climbing temperatures will affect the coastal climate in four eastern boundary upwelling systems, or EBUSes, ...
California’s Corrosive Ocean
The significance of our ocean's impact on greenhouse gas begins with the earliest ocean four billion years ago, when all the atmospheric carbon was absorbed and allowed the earth to ...
New Website Highlights Potential Restoration Alternatives at Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission, State Coastal Conservancy and the Annenberg Foundation today announced a joint website to provide an initial outline ...
Predicting Winners and Losers in a Warmer Intertidal Zone
Along every seashore lies an abundance of marine life that has evolved to thrive in two different environments: underwater at high tide and above water at low tide. This unique ...
Developing Risk Management in a Changing Climate
Over the next century, sea level rise (SLR) in the Los Angeles region may increase 5-24 inches by 2050 and up to 66 inches by 2100. A new study by ...
The Narrowing of Broad Beach: Stairway to Nowhere
When this home, and the ones beside it, were originally designed and built, sand buried the entire foundation up to the bottom of the house, and the stairs led right ...
Sea Level Rise in Southern California
Global warming is producing rising sea levels worldwide. But how rapidly is sea level increasing off southern California and how will it affect us? Global sea levels are projected to ...